His withdrawal leaves former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak the strong favorite to become Britain's next prime minister — the third this year.
LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Sunday he will not run to lead the Conservative Party, ending a short-lived, high-profile attempt to return to the prime minister's job he was ousted from little more than three months ago.
Late Sunday he said he had amassed the backing of 102 colleagues, more than the threshold of 100 needed to make a ballot of lawmakers on Monday. “But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do,” he said. “Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds.”
If both make the ballot, the 357 Conservative lawmakers will hold an indicative vote on Monday to show their preference before the choice goes to the 172,000 party members around the country. If Mordaunt does not reach 100 nominations, Sunak will win by acclamation.